Kinda Sorta Maybe Like A Podcast

A beatboxer headlining shows at comedy festivals? That may seem a bit odd. However, once you see Beardyman (aka Darren Foreman) perform, you realize that the former back-to-back UK Beatboxing Champion manages to bring a lot comedy into his set. Much like U.S. comedian Reggie Watts, Beardyman brings you on a musical journey through his great beatboxing, looping, and improvisational skills, while also being pretty darn funny in the process -- though Beardyman would point out that they're not quite the same, which is indeed true. Paul Little got the chance to speak with Beardyman in advance of his feature performance at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal. He spoke about his introduction to music and beatboxing, his evolution towards performing in comedy settings, dealing with different types of audiences, and his first appearance on American television (when he was on Conan a couple months back).

A short five years ago, John Hastings decided to enter the world of stand-up comedy, and he's already made quite the name for himself across Canada. While comedy was something he grew up enjoying, stand-up wasn't something he pursued until he was told it might be a way to make some money. Of course, that's not exactly the case when just getting started, but he fell in love with it and hasn't looked back. Last year, he even won the Irwin Barker Award at the Just for Laughs Canadian Homegrown Comedy Competition -- a personal highlight for Hastings -- and was named as one of the five comics to watch in 2010 by The Comedy Network. The man also keeps incredibly busy. Besides performing stand-up around the country and beyond, he also regularly does improv and sketch shows, and through all of that he's managed to record a new podcast six days a week and appear in several videos -- including a "rant series" -- for WatchMojo.com. World domination is clearly next on the docket. Hastings is making his first appearance

Darcy Michael is a comedian not easily categorized -- and he likes it that way. Essentially, he's just an incredibly funny dude who is able to translate real-life situations into gut-busting bits on stage, and we're all the better for it. Starting stand-up only a few short years ago, Darcy has already accomplished quite a lot, including being featured in a pre-taped bit on The Tonight Show, playing Montreal's Just for Laughs Festival, appearing in his own Comedy Now special on CTV, and even earning a Canadian Comedy Award nomination for his performance at the 2009 Winnipeg Comedy Festival. Darcy is returning to the Winnipeg Comedy Festival this weekend. Paul Little spoke with Darcy over the phone last week from his home in B.C., fresh off of him attempting a Jillian Michaels workout. He was still a bit amped up from the workout, but he provided some laughs while going over his career highlights thus far, why he loves Canadian audiences, and which other Winnipeg Comedy Festival acts he would try and check out

There's a new wave of Canadian comics living in and gaining success in the United Kingdom. One of the stand-ups doing quite well in the motherland, to the point where he now lives in London, is Pete Johansson. Beginning his comedy career at age 16 in Kelowna, BC, Johansson has spent the last 19 years gaining experience in Canada, the U.S., and abroad, performing along the way at the HBO Aspen Comedy Arts Festival, Montreal's Just for Laughs Festival, the Boston Comedy Festival, and the Edinburgh Comedy Festival. Johansson hasn't just stopped in England, either, as his quest for global comedy domination has also taken him to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and India. Sure, they're all Commonwealth countries, but it's certainly only the beginning. He's spent the last little while back in Canada, and before heading overseas once again, he's making a stop this weekend at the Winnipeg Comedy Festival. As he explained when Mark McLeod spoke with him over the weekend, Johansson is not a fan of "clean comedy"

Montreal-born Kevin McDonald founded the sketch comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall in the mid-80s with Dave Foley, whom he met while training at the iconic Second City in Toronto. They were later joined by Mark McKinney and Bruce McCulloch, who came to Toronto from Alberta with their own sketch troupe, and after shedding several members and allowing an incredibly persistent Scott Thompson into the fold, the world was gifted with the Kids we now know and love. For more than two decades, the edgy, dark, and surreal comics gave us five seasons of The Kids in the Hall on CBC and HBO; the feature film Brain Candy; several tours across North America; and last year the mini-series Death Comes to Town, commissioned by the CBC and airing on IFC in the U.S. When not working with the influential sketch troupe, McDonald has appeared in memorable guest roles on shows like NewsRadio, Seinfeld, and Less Than Kind, as well as a number of feature films, while utilizing his unique tones in cartoon voiceover work. Over the la

Chris Gibbs, who 20 years ago began as a street performer in London, is a regular on the Canadian Fringe Festival circuit with a variety of one-man shows (such as "The Power of Ignorance" and "Gibberish") and made his Winnipeg Comedy Festival debut last year. Combining stand-up comedy with improvisation and a bit of theatrics, Gibbs has wowed audiences across the world over, appearing at London's Comedy Store, Melbourne's Last Laugh, and the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal. Paul Little got the chance to speak with Gibbs last week in advance of his festival shows, and he spoke at length about his early years as a performer, his experiences with Winnipeg audiences and those elsewhere, his many accomplishments throughout his many years of performing, and the various neurosis involved in getting in front of an audience. If you're a comedy fan, or just interested in getting into the mind of a live performer, this is definitely an interview you'll not want to miss.

When one is labelled controversial, it will usually bring with it a lot of attention. But while comic Darren Frost has frequently been given the moniker of "Canada's Most Controversial Comedian", he feels his reputation as an opinionated presence on stage has probably done more harm than good to his bottom line. Still, even with some events and clubs not booking him because of their pre-conceived notions, that won't ever stop Darren from tackling the dirtiest, nastiest, or most politically-incorrect topics in front of a crowd every night. If you can handle (or even enjoy) the salty language and no-holds-barred material, you'll more than likely come away from his shows having done a lot of laughing. And if you can't handle it, then you probably should have heeded the "X-rated" warning posted outside all his gigs and not put down your money to see him in the first place. He may not be for everyone, but for those willing to go along for the ride, it's well worth it.

Getting into graphic design -- originally comic book lettering, and later television design -- Pierre Bernard had no aspirations to be a television performer. But a few years after starting at Late Night with Conan O'Brien in the early 90s, he made a random appearance on the show sparked by a design of his on a "New State Quarters" sketch, which was a huge hit. This lead to writer Brian Stack to come up with the idea for the hilarious and popular "Pierre Bernard's Recliner of Rage" bits, as well as countless other appearances by Pierre over the years. In 2009, Pierre followed Conan and the rest of the Late Night staff to Los Angeles for the now-infamous 7-month Tonight Show run. But Conan and his staff, including Pierre, landed on their feet and now have a new show on TBS, Conan. And he's still making appearances on camera (a piece about Pierre's "enhancement" of classic female DC characters a couple months ago was inspired), which is something he's now embraced and learned to enjoy. Pierre was kind enough

Kevin Pollak has carved himself a very successful career as a top-notch character actor in comedies and dramas: The Usual Suspects, A Few Good Men, The Whole Nine Yards, Hostage, Grumpy Old Men, Casino, L.A. Story, and Willow, to name a few. He's also a longtime stand-up comic, and one of the best impressionists on the planet. Recently, Kevin has become somewhat of a New Media trailblazer, starting Kevin Pollak's Chat Show, a great weekly online talk show with in-depth interviews and silly bits. After some scheduling conflicts prevented an in-person interview in Los Angeles, Paul Little spoke with Kevin over the phone this week about the start of his career, his impressions (listen for a new one he's been working on), his latest movie role, and of course, Kevin Pollak's Chat Show.

The Lonely Island -- the comedy collective featuring Saturday Night Live star Andy Samberg and SNL writers Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer -- recently released an album featuring a mix of past SNL Digital Shorts and a host of new songs (many with guest vocals from stars like Jack Black and Norah Jones). That album, Incredibad, surprised many by debuting at #13 on the Billboard charts a few weeks back. After interviewing Samberg in 2007 and Taccone (and Lonely Island collaborator Chester Tam) in early 2008, Paul Little finally had the chance to talk to all three of them at once. In their chat, the "Dudes" explain their thoughts on the album's early success, what classic Lonely Island track everyone should check out, and other upcoming projects.

Paul Little is a big fan of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, watching the show since its first episode. Like any long-running show, there have been ups and downs, but Conan and his team of writers and performers have been bringing some of the best comedy of our generation to televisions everywhere. So imagine how excited he was when he found out that on a recent trip to New York City, not only would he get to attend a taping of Late Night, but that he'd get to sit down with one if its writers for an interview at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Writer Brian Stack -- who also regularly appears on the show in sketches, playing some of its most well-known characters including Frankenstein, The Interrupter, The Offensive Ghost Crooner, The Traveling Salesman, and the Local Sports Athlete -- graciously put up with Paul's rookie interview skills for a chat. Brian talks about his start in improv in Wisconsin and later with Second City in Chicago, his experiences working on Late Night for the last 10 years, and what the future

Chester Tam met Saturday Night Live's Andy Samberg at NYU film school, and when Andy rejoined his childhood friends Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer in L.A. to make videos together as The Lonely Island, Chester began working with the trio. He appeared in many of the group's pre-SNL videos (including "The 'Bu", "The Backseatsman", and "Anger Management"), continues to keep fans updated with everything relating to the Dudes running their official website, and has a role in their new movie, Hot Rod. He's also carving out a career of his own outside of The Lonely Island, and our own TLI superfan Paul Little caught up with "Chez" on the ph about his own projects, some history of The Lonely Island before they "made it big", and of course, Vancouver's crepes. This was recorded in the very early days of ShowbizMonkeys.com, so the audio quality isn't the best -- but we figured we might as well add it to our podcast archive for anyone interested in checking it out!

Chances are, if you're reading this, then you know who Andy Samberg is, or at least recognize him. One of the hottest young talents in the current crop of Saturday Night Live cast members, Andy is best known to many for his starring role alongside Chris Parnell in the "Lazy Sunday" video, a digital short that aired on SNL and then became an overnight internet sensation and one of the first viral videos, which was followed the next year with the now Emmy-nominated Justin Timberlake duet, "Dick in a Box". However, before SNL, Andy was part of The Lonely Island comedy troupe, whose other two members Jorma Taccone and Akiva Shaffer also work at the NBC saturday night staple as writers. Now Andy, like so many SNL'ers before him, is making the jump to the big screen in the upcoming comedy Hot Rod, co-starring Taccone and directed by Shaffer, and as such was making the publicity rounds in support of it. Our own Mark McLeod in Vancouver and Paul Little in Winnipeg joined Andy on the phone from Toronto, where he was